Winning a Gold Medal Shouldn’t Be a Stretch

Get used to what this Dream Team doesn’t have.

No Shaquille O’Neal, no Kobe Bryant, no Tim Duncan, no Grant Hill.

O’Neal said two gold medals were enough--give somebody else a chance.

Bryant? He was more focused on a wedding ring than the Olympic rings.

Duncan and Hill are sitting out the Olympics because of injuries.

The U.S. team that opened its training camp Saturday in Maui and will play its first exhibition game today against Canada in Honolulu is a little different than the 1992 and 1996 teams.

It is younger, shorter--and from the looks of things, more enthusiastic.

It is also, naturally, supposed to win the gold--though this team might prove less dominant than the ’92 team, which won its games by an average of 43.8 points, or the ’96 team, which won by an average of 32.3.

“I don’t like to think about it but, of course, any team can lose,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “Should we lose? No.”

This is a team that doesn’t have a 7-footer on its roster--though it has two 6-foot-11 forwards, Kevin Garnett and Vin Baker. Alonzo Mourning, at 6-10, will start at center.

The original Dream Team that won in Barcelona had two 7-footers, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson. The team that won in Atlanta had three, Hakeem Olajuwon, O’Neal and Robinson.

Lack of height will not be a problem, the players insist.

“I say, ‘Don’t be dumb,’ ” said high-flying Vince Carter, who is 6-6. “Just because we don’t have a lot of 7-footers or 6-11 guys, you’ll be in for a surprise.

“You look at that height, you better look at that name and know what they have to offer. Just because we don’t have much size . . . we have a hell of a lot of talent.”

Gary Payton, the only holdover from ‘96, sees a team athletic enough to run that also plays well above the rim.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any effect,” he said. “We were really big in ’96. We would pound the ball into Shaq, Hakeem, Karl [Malone], David.

“This team has a lot of guys that can run up and down the court and be a lot more athletic. We’ve got athletes who block shots and get rebounds and can take the ball out on the break too, without giving it to us.”

Besides Payton--the very vocal leader who was elected one of three captains Wednesday along with Jason Kidd and Mourning--the guards are Kidd, Tim Hardaway, Steve Smith, Allan Houston and Ray Allen. The forwards are Garnett, Carter, Baker, Antonio McDyess and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, with Mourning the only center.

Hardaway, at 34, is the oldest player. Only he, Payton, Smith and Mourning are 30 or older, making it a particularly young group.

The 30-and-over club on the ’92 team consisted of Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Ewing, Magic Johnson and John Stockton--and Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Malone and Chris Mullin were 29.

In ‘96, Barkley, Malone, Reggie Miller, Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen, Robinson and Stockton were all 30 or older.

The youngsters on this team include Carter and Abdur-Rahim at 23, Garnett at 24 and Allen at 25. They have less experience, but they can run all day--and refreshingly, they are distinctly happy to be here.

Even among the older players, Mourning in particular is making a sacrifice, playing even though he will travel back to the U.S. during the Olympics for the birth of a daughter.

“These guys who are on this team, they probably wanted to be over here in the first place,” Payton said. “It was a great honor for them. Most of the other guys didn’t want to come or had injuries, or some had already been on an Olympic team, and they wanted to have their summer.”

For the Olympians, the summer is over. They will play a USA Select team of college players Saturday in Honolulu, then leave for Japan, where they will play exhibition games against Spain and Japan before continuing to Australia to face the Australian team Sept. 9 in Melbourne in their final warmup.

The U.S. opens preliminary-round play in the Olympics Sept. 17 against China.

“We’ve got to be the team we are,” Payton said Tomjanovich told the players in their first meeting. “Don’t try to be like the ’92 Dream Team or the ’96 Dream Team. Be ourselves and win basketball games.”

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Dream Team Roster

GUARDS

* Ray Allen, 6-5, Milwaukee; Tim Hardaway, 6-0, Miami; Allan Houston, 6-6, New York; Jason Kidd, 6-4, Phoenix; Gary Payton, 6-4, Seattle; Steve Smith, 6-8, Portland

FORWARDS

* Shareef Abdur-Rahim, 6-9, Vancouver; Vin Baker, 6-11, Seattle; Vince Carter, 6-6, Toronto; Kevin Garnett, 6-11, Minnesota; Antonio McDyess, 6-9, Denver

CENTER

* Alonzo Mourning, 6-10, Miami